I am posting here and parenting an ld child. My child is in 5th grade and is using Harcourt Bright Surprises reading program grade 3. An educational assistant is teaching the series. I suspect this assistant has not been trained in teaching reading. I have viewed that the program is not being followed, as the fluency part is not being used as a fluency piece. I was told they will be using another fluency program but have not seen that happen yet. I talked to the psychologist who recommended I write down what I want. So, I want to make a list of techniques and guidelines that will make their reading program effective. Anything you can add would be appreciated.
Reading instructor: should know the different sounds for letters and letter combinations, such as “ea” has 3 different sounds long e, short e, and long a. Instructor should know the rules such as c followed by i,.e,or y makes a soft sound s. Instructor should know how to help child break words into phonems or syllables when stuck on a word.
Guided reading: use paper,finger or pen to track,when error is made have child self correct helping only by reminding child of rules,or other sounds the letters make, reminding them to chunk the word into syllables,or having child track the word if not sequencing right.
Re: Need help improving reading program
auditory mom,
Am I off base to suspect that they are using a 3rd grade regular ed. reading curriculum with your child? If this is the case, it is totally and completely inappropriate. You have the right idea about making objectives more specific, but this is going to be pointless unless they change the reading methods used. A regular ed. reding curriculum is not acceptable for an LD child. A multi-sensory structured language approach is needed. I’ll give you a couple of links to articles on this web-site which you need to print out, take to the school for an IEP team meeting, and demand (nicely, hopefully) that they immediately begin using research based methods by a trained teacher or you will be seeking the help of an advocate to get the school system to pay for private reading therapy. This kind of thing is unacceptable, and I hope No Child Left Behind will cause it to be more rare in the future. But parents like you must fight it now for your own children.
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/reading_approaches.html
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/mssl_methods.html
Janis
Re: Need help improving reading program
Thanks for your help looked again and found another article. Thought I read them all. Learning support thinks the program addresses all the kids problems. It has a phonics piece, fluency piece and comprehension piece. They are not using the fluency, and my child says she hasn’t done any phonics and we do it with the tutor so she knows what it is. I am trying to write a pleasant letter saying what has been working for my child. Thanks to everyone for helping.
Re: Need help improving reading program
Well I don’t know your kid or much about him/her. (It’s hard enough getting folks names). But what s/he needs if there is a reading disability is systematic and explicit multisensory phonics. A regular phonics program won’t work.
The fluency and any similar skills would need to be taught systematically and explicitly as well.
There is no way that this will work. Here is a suggestion on wording on an IEP from Susan Barton. Would apply to OG, LMB, and probably PG. To several of the fluency programs, etc.
“If your child has an I.E.P., this description of a reading program should be on the I.E.P.:
Independent scientific, replicated research supports the use of a reading and spelling system that is simultaneously multisensory, systematic, and cumulative with direct and explicit instruction in both synthetic and analytic phonics with intense practice.”
—des
Re: Need help improving reading program
I agree with Janis that the reading material/instructional method may not be appropriate. If your child isn’t getting a trained Reading teacher who knows how to remediateeither, that may pose additional problems. A method that can help, particularly if the instructor is not a specialist is Looking Glass Spelling. Check out my website www.gwhizresources.com.
Fern
Try this. Perhaps your child would like to learn multi-sensory decoding of words, involving many senses actively. Works with any text, any level, and remediates the decoding difficulties which destroy comprehension of printed material. Read about it at http://www.1stbooks.com/. THE SOUNDS OF WORDS. Perhaps the teacher assistant could benefit, too. Contact me if you need more info. [email protected]
Anla